‘That became our window’- Hlomla Dandala on the three minutes that could save a woman’s life - IOL

‘Three minutes, three minutes.’ Hlomla Dandala has opened up about an initiative aimed at getting help to women in danger within minutes, as South Africa continues to confront the devastating reality of gender-based violence.

South African actor and producer Hlomla Dandala has opened up about the devastating impact of gender-based violence (GBV), saying he cannot imagine the pain endured by women who lose their lives or the families left behind to mourn them.

In 2020, Dandala was identified as an ambassador of goodwill for the fight against GBV, and he has continued to speak about the need for society to confront violence against women.

His comments come as the country continues to grapple with a devastating GBV crisis, with women and families across the country confronting the consequences of violence.

“I cannot imagine the pain that the women went through before they passed away. I cannot imagine the pain that the families are going through,” he said.

“Any time a member of society feels under attack, I take the view that that entire society is under attack.”

Dandala said the scale of the crisis meant that South Africans should focus on finding practical solutions rather than turning on one another.

“There are challenges being thrown out there now about what could be done, what should be done, and who's not doing anything,” he said.

“If we are in pain as a country, this is not the time to be throwing blame, to be flinging blame about.”

Dandala revealed that he and a group of people had previously tried to understand the behaviour of attackers by going directly into prisons to speak to convicted rapists.

Rather than simply asking what men should do to combat GBV, they wanted to understand what happens in the moments leading up to an attack.

The conversations, he said, revealed that some rapists described reaching a point of rage where intervention from another person could potentially stop them from carrying out violence.

Dandala said another important finding emerged when the group examined the period between a perpetrator approaching a potential victim and the point at which sexual violence occurred.

“We deduced that between the man introducing himself to the potential victim and actual penetration, three minutes, three minutes. And that became our window,” he said.

For Dandala and those working with him, the challenge became finding a way to get help to someone in danger within those crucial minutes.

“It needed to be boots on site inside three minutes. Then we started looking around,” he said.

Dandala said one of the ideas that inspired the initiative came from taxi ranks and the concept of “Vimba”, a call for help that can alert people nearby when someone is being attacked or robbed.

The idea led the group to develop what Dandala described as a discreet personal emergency button.

The device could be carried secretly by a person and, when activated, would send an alert not only to emergency services but also to people within a 100-metre radius.

Dandala described the concept as a “digital Vimba”, designed to turn ordinary members of the public into potential first-responders without expecting them to put themselves unnecessarily in danger.

The system would also allow responders to know that others were on their way and create a record of the incident through video and audio captured by nearby phones.

For Dandala, the goal was not to encourage members of the public to confront dangerous perpetrators, but to make sure that someone was there quickly enough to prevent a potentially devastating situation from escalating.

He said the first response could be as simple as approaching the person who had called for help and asking whether they were safe, while waiting for police or armed security to arrive.

DA MP and Portfolio Committee on Police chairperson Ian Cameron said his work with families of GBV victims had shown him the human cost behind the statistics.

Cameron recalled the case of 27-year-old Siphokazi Booi, whose dismembered remains were discovered in a wheelie bin near the railway line in Mbekweni, Paarl, in September 2021.

Her boyfriend, Sithobele Qebe, was arrested after her remains were found. He was later convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in August 2024.

“I still think about Siphokazi Booi. Not because I read about her in a newspaper. I worked directly with her family. I sat through the court process with them,” Cameron said.

Qebe's case took years to conclude, with multiple postponements before he was eventually sentenced.

He pleaded guilty to murder, obstructing the administration of justice, assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, desecrating a corpse and contravening his bail conditions.

“This is what disappears when we talk comfortably about ‘GBV statistics’,” Cameron said.

The case had previously attracted attention because Qebe had been out on bail on an assault charge involving Booi when she was killed.

He had been arrested in August 2021 after allegedly assaulting her and was released on bail before her murder.

For Dandala, the issue is ultimately about collective responsibility: violence against one person affects an entire community, and preventing it requires people to be prepared to intervene safely when someone is in danger.

As South Africa continues to confront the devastating reality of GBV, Dandala's experience has left him focused on one question: how quickly can society respond when someone cries out for help?